A man with long lavender hair stepped in front of me and knelt, nearly collapsing. The crude fake jewels attached to his clothes made a rattling sound.
“My name is Sucre. Please remember it. From today, it’s an honor, a great honor to serve Your Majesty!”
Judging by appearance alone, he matches my taste far more than Gabriel.
With long eyelashes and deep dimples, he was truly a gorgeously handsome person.
“I never dreamed I’d be chosen. To be able to stay in such a wonderful place, I was so excited I couldn’t sleep last night.”
Hmm, the flattery is a bit excessive.
But I rather liked his ambitious lavender eyes brimming with ambition, so I watched what Sucre would do.
“Sucre is a male dancer from the Seven Kingdoms. He’s the only foreigner among the three. Though of lowly birth, as you can see, he’s full of enthusiasm to serve Your Majesty.”
I thought the name was unusual, so he’s not from Nix.
Well, I’ve never seen such transparent lavender irises before.
I reached out and gently grasped Sucre’s chin.
I was amazed at how smooth it was, as if he never grew facial hair from the start.
“As a dancer, you must be good at dancing.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I used to dance with fans.”
“Were you in a traveling troupe?”
“When I was young. As I got older, I was in charge of the biggest performances at the pleasure house.”
His flirtatious tone was satisfying, and the aegyo dripping from every word was sweet.
Where else could you find someone more suited to the title of ‘royal consort’?
With the added dramatic rise in status, it was a story that would be on the lips of gossips.
‘This is good. I should spread rumors that the emperor couldn’t say a word about taking in someone like this as a consort.’
To be frank, Sucre seemed to have a very bad personality.
Well, if he’d lived such a hard life since childhood, his temper probably wasn’t ordinary.
It was amazing he’d survived this long.
“Someday I’d like to see you dance.”
“I’ll prepare diligently and happily, Your Majesty!”
Sucre smiled brightly. As he did so, he lightly touched the couch where I was reclining, and I noticed the calluses on his long, jointed fingers.
They seemed to be traces of holding fans for a long time.
‘He probably has a competitive spirit too, and will surely reveal his prickly nature when I’m not looking.’
The timid Gabriel would likely be intimidated by Sucre, no matter how you looked at it.
It would be good if the third person had a personality that could mediate between those two.
Thinking that, I shifted my gaze to find a handsome youth with blue-tinted hair.
He had the least presence of the three, but judging by his posture, he seemed to be of noble birth.
“I greet Your Majesty the Empress.”
Receiving my gaze, the young man bowed with a measured movement and then introduced himself.
“My name is Terion Oclaire. I am the third son of the Oclaire viscounty and stand here to receive Your Majesty’s grace.”
The young man, who seemed to have a calm temperament, looked somewhat cynical.
His slender figure showed no sign of muscle, and he had distinctive pale blue eyes. If I had to find another merit, it would be his sense of style.
‘He seems to have a good sense of fashion as well.’
Terion was the most well-dressed of the three.
Wearing a cravat, vest, and shoes.
Looking closely, one could tell they weren’t luxury items, but the combination still made him look quite presentable.
If properly groomed and sent out into society, he’d surely capture the hearts of many young ladies.
‘With some proper training, he could be useful for gathering information in social circles.’
I can clearly see what Paivel was thinking when he chose him.
I spoke languidly to Terion, who was hanging his head.
“The Oclaire family?”
“We’re just a small house in the west, I’m ashamed to say.”
“I already know that, so it’s not interesting. Is there nothing your family can boast about?”
“Boast…?”
Terion bit his lip, seemingly at a loss for words.
Then he hurriedly spilled out an answer, as if forcing it out.
“My family may be humble local lords, but for generations we have studied magical beasts.”
“Studied magical beasts… Then do you know anything about bestiary books?”
“My grandfather compiled the first bestiary. After that, my father took over the work, added new magical beasts, and republished it. My second brother inherited that work.”
So the eldest son manages the territory, and the second son researches magical beasts.
It seems the third son, Terion, didn’t have much to do.
“You must like reading.”
“Ah, yes. I… like it. I was often ill as a child, so reading was about all I could do.”
“It’s fortunate then. There hasn’t been a separate library in the Empress’s Palace until now. You can be in charge of the library.”
Terion’s eyes widened at my proposal. He didn’t seem to expect to be given a task.
“What, you don’t like it?”
I asked with a smirk, and Terion quickly shook his head.
“I like it! I’m not sure if I can do well… but I’ll try my best.”
“Don’t worry. There’s an old librarian named Charles in the Imperial Library. I’ll call him, so discuss it with him and make a list of books to bring in.”
Old man Charles. I wonder if he’s putting fragrant oil on that magnificent beard of his today too.
Paivel, who had been diligently writing down my orders, noticed my gaze and nodded.
It meant he would take care of it himself.
“We should make it bigger and grander than the Imperial Library. So that scholars will be dying to visit the Empress’s Palace.”
“Yes, don’t think about the budget. If we’re going to do it, let’s make it as lavish as possible.”
Come to think of it, it was in that damned Imperial Library that I realized the emperor was Enrique.
‘And after that, I met Mereum.’
Remembering meeting Mereum and saving him put me in a good mood.
Abandoning my plan to take a nap, I reached out to get up. Sucre, quick to notice, supported me.
‘A consort like this would be worth giving expensive gifts to.’
At least until he asks for something beyond his station.
“Paivel. Check if Charlotte is outside.”
“Oh, she is.”
“Then tell her to bring in some refreshments. I’d like to have tea with the new family members.”
“Then may I drink what Charlotte is holding?”
“Do as you like.”
Paivel, who had flung the door wide open, grinned as he snatched the glass Charlotte was holding. Charlotte subtly rolled her eyes at that…
‘Oh?’
She doesn’t seem to dislike it?
My eyes sparkled with interest.
It was clearly visible how Charlotte and Paivel teased each other as they brushed past.
‘Oh ho. This is an unexpected encounter.’
Charlotte was a maid I cared for quite a bit.
If Madame Bertholdt was somewhat stern and serious, Charlotte was bright and positive.
So when Madame Bertholdt enforced discipline, Charlotte would flit about like a sparrow, comforting the employees and binding them together.
She was undoubtedly an indispensable central figure within the Empress’s Palace.
‘When Charlotte gets married, I should give her a decent house in the capital, and a certificate promising a good match for her daughter if she has one.’
With such thoughts, I began to engage in pleasant conversation with the consorts.
Since they were all as pliable as the tongue in my mouth, it couldn’t have been more comfortable.
[This is the timeline separator]“Hey, did you hear? They say Her Majesty the Empress has taken in three concubines!”
“Whew, that’s something.”
“To think we’d see such a scandal in our lifetime.”
After a hard day’s work, people gather at the tavern.
They share the unfair things that happened at work that day, discuss their worries, but really, the most interesting thing was the gossip.
Especially stories about royalty, whom commoners would never even catch a glimpse of in their lifetime, made the alcohol go down smoothly even without side dishes.
“I wonder who was chosen. Lucky bastards.”
“Yeah, really. Those guys will be eating something much better than these measly snacks now.”
“Maybe they’re even roasting dragons to eat, who knows.”
The giggling people all took big swigs of their beer.
Their faces were full of intent to thoroughly chew over, pick apart, taste, and enjoy the details if they could only know what the consorts looked like.
And in a corner of such a tavern sat two guests boasting unusual height and build.
As the conversation continued, the man whose hand was clenching tighter finally crushed the wooden cup he was holding.
“Gasp!”
“Did that person just crush a cup with his bare hands?”
“Wow. What tremendous grip strength.”
People who turned around startled by the sound of something breaking started to whisper.
At that, the man sitting across from the one who crushed the cup raised his hand with a laugh.
“It’s nothing. My friend here seems to be drunk, I’ll take him out.”
With such a glib response, people quickly lost interest.
After all, the topic of the Empress’s consorts was so entertaining that they had no time to pay attention to anything else.
“Let’s go, Vice Captain.”
The glib man was none other than Sir Chedef, an elite of the Astaroth Knights.
The name of the man who had rendered the wooden cup unusable was Derek Noert.
He was the Vice Captain of the Astaroth Knights.
They had just about finished dealing with an area troubled by magical beasts and were stopping by a tavern for a quick drink before returning to the palace, only to end up in this situation.
Chedef, who knew well how the Vice Captain worshipped Her Majesty the Empress like a god, felt a chill down his spine.
The problem was that not just in the tavern, but at street stalls, vegetable shops, in the park… this story was everywhere.
The Male Lead’s Obsessive (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: She is his lifelong obsession, to the point where he was willing to be a third wheel, scorned by society, just to wedge his way into her relationship with her fiancé.
Synopsis:
Cold-hearted and indifferent female lead + Scheming and subservient CEO male lead
Summary:
Rong Xiu’s biggest regret in life was missing out on Fan Xia.
He secretly loved Fan Xia for 7 years.
Watched her go public with her boyfriend.
Watched her kiss her boyfriend at their wedding.
Until that man blissfully nestled in Fan Xia’s arms, obtaining everything he could only dream of.
The crazy jealousy stripped away his hidden secret love, layer by layer, burning like wildfire.
Fan Xia, how can I have you!
【Reading and Trigger Warning Guide】
1. Female dominant, male submissive, male pregnancy
2. Male lead schemes his way to the top, male competition